President Donald Trump has decided to shut down two White House advisory councils.(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he is disbanding two White House advisory councils following the resignation of several members.

That came after chief executives for Merck, Under Armor and Intel announced they all would be leaving the President’s American Manufacturing Council over Trump’s response to the violence that broke out shortly before a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Extremist groups, including neo-Nazis and the Klu Klux Klan, had gathered to oppose plans to remove a statute of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Kenneth Frazier joined President Donald Trump’s Manufacturing Advisory Council in January (Saul/AFP/Getty Images file photo)

Hours after Kenneth Frazier, CEO of Merck Pharma, announced he was stepping down from the President’s Manufacturing Council, President Donald J. Trump hit back on Twitter.

Frazier’s resignation came two days after violence broke out at a white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. In a statement Monday morning, Frazier said he felt “a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.”